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Stars fire Crawford after missing playoffs again

DALLAS (AP) - The Dallas Stars fired coach Marc Crawford on Monday after missing the playoffs in each of his two seasons, extending their postseason drought to three years.

"I would like to thank Marc for the hard work he provided to the Dallas Stars," general manager Joe Nieuwendyk said. "We wish him the best in the future."

Crawford went 79-60-25 in Dallas, but couldn't get the Stars over the hump in the Western Conference. The Stars haven't made the playoffs since advancing to the conference finals in 2008 and last season failed to advance in consecutive seasons for the first time since moving to Dallas in 1993.

The Stars won four straight in a mad dash to make the playoffs this year before a season-ending loss to Minnesota.

Crawford's hiring in June 2009 was the first big move by Nieuwendyk, the Conn Smythe Award winner for Dallas in 1999. Nieuwendyk liked his tough, organized approach as Team Canada coach in the 1998 Olympics and Crawford's resume suggested good things would happen in Dallas.

As a rookie head coach for Quebec in 1994-95, the Nordiques made the playoffs and at 34 Crawford became the youngest recipient of the Jack Adams Trophy as the NHL coach of the year. The team moved to Colorado and won the Stanley Cup a year later and he stayed with that franchise until 1998.

Crawford was in Vancouver from 1999-2006, and he piled up 246 wins there. The Canucks failed to advance far in the playoffs and he later spent two seasons with the Kings and another year in the television booth before Dallas came calling.

Crawford replaced Dave Tippett, who was fired after taking over for Ken Hitchcock midway through 2001-02 season. The Stars won their only Stanley Cup in 1999 and those memories seem long ago for a franchise that also parted with veteran star Mike Modano before the season.

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